The construction found in "the car needs washed" is a common feature of
Pittsburgh dialect or Pittsburghese. You can read more about its
connections to early immigration from Northern England at:
http://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/americanvarieties/pittsburghese/
The construction is still highly stigmatized in professional/formal
settings here, especially by Pittsburghers. Barbara Johnstone and Scott
Kiesling do interesting research on Pittsburghese (including "needs
washed"), identity and ideology. My own research suggests that the
construction is not commonly used by African American Pittsburghers.
Best,
Amanda
--
Dr. Amanda J. Godley
Associate Professor
English Education
Language, Literacy and Culture
University of Pittsburgh
[log in to unmask]
412-648-7313
On 5/21/12 12:27 PM, "Katz, Seth" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>Bob:
>
>Writing from Peoria (where I have been 'playing' for the last 20 years),
>I must report that this use of "need" is alive and well, as in the oft
>heard, "The car needs washed" (though over in Tazewell County, on the
>east side of the Illinois River, they add a medial 'r,' so you'll hear
>"The car needs warshed.").
>
>Seth
>
>Dr. Seth Katz
>Assistant Professor
>Department of English
>Bradley University
>
>Faculty Advisor
>Bradley University Hillel
>
>________________________________
>
>From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar on behalf of Robert
>Yates
>Sent: Mon 5/21/2012 10:55 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: progressive passive
>
>
>I grew up in Peoria and now live 60 miles east from Kansas City.
>
>My sister and sister-in-law in Peoria use the construction.
>
>In my local paper in Missouri, about 15 years ago I saw an ad in the
>local paper: We have a lot of houses that need sold.
>
>Bob Yates
>
>On Mon, May 21, 2012 at 8:18 AM, Dick Veit <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>
> Maybe so, John, but there are plenty of other "needs + PAST PARTICIPLE"
>examples available. Here's one
><http://southeastmain.wordpress.com/2011/06/02/the-slammer-needs-painted/>
> that uses "needs painted" twice and "needs explored" once, and the
>writing is anything but sloppy. Here's an excerpt from the link:
>
>
> The Slammer not only needs painted (on canvas, board, and/or paper) it
>really needs to be painted many times. It needs to have its full location
>disclosed (the tofu company that sits beside it, for example, needs to be
>in one painting. The razor wire along the balcony on the left, next to
>the cherry tree, needs explored, in a painterly fashion.
>
>
> The writer appears to be in Oregon. Can anyone report in which regions
>this locution is commonly heard?
>
>
> Dick
>
>
> On Sun, May 20, 2012 at 9:43 PM, John Chorazy
><[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>
> From the same "needs painted" source, just a few lines down - can't
> help think the title is just a typo as the rest doesn't follow similar
> usage... Interesting thread, nonetheless.
>
> <There are several other ways to tell if your home needs to be painted
> and renewed; the color is fading and is noticeably lighter, there are
> water streak lines, the white colors are turning grey, and/or deep
> colors are losing their base and depth. Also, if you find chalking on
> the surface of the paint, it may mean you need to get your home power
> washed and painted.>
>
> http://blog.sharperimpressionspainting.com/?p=359
>
>
> John
>
>
>
>
>
> > Good point about "needs painting," etc. I've argued in my classes
>that
> > "needs painted" is an innovative form and "needs painting" a reflex
>of the
> > older passive progressive.
> >
> >
> >
> > I don't know enough about Eliot's grammar and style to say
>definitively that
> > she would or would not have used the verbal noun "making" in an active
> > sense. Having just finished Mill on the Floss, that sort of ellipsis
>feels
> > odd, but that's not evidence. Spring allergies feel odd too.
> >
> >
> >
> > Herb
> >
> >
> >
> > From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
> > [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Dick Veit
> > Sent: Sunday, May 20, 2012 9:59 AM
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: progressive passive
> >
> >
> >
> > Herb,
> >
> > The old form of the progressive passive ("My house is painting")
>survives in
> > expressions following "need," as in "My house needs painting" and "My
>bed
> > needs making." There are even some regional US dialects where one
>hears "My
> > house needs painted."
> >
> > Let me respond to your inquiry about "the articles he had seen under
>her
> > fingers in the process of making." Before reading your analysis, I
>would
> > have read "making" as active: the process of her making them, rather
>than
> > the process of them being made. This may reflect my present-day
>perspective,
> > however, and Eliot could well have intended the passive.
> >
> > Dick
> >
> >
> > On Sat, May 19, 2012 at 11:43 PM, Stahlke, Herbert <[log in to unmask]>
>wrote:
> >
> > It's well known that the Present Day English progressive passive as in
> >
> >
> >
> > My house is being painted
> >
> >
> >
> > did not come into wide use till the mid-19th c. Until then, one
>would have
> > said-or written
> >
> >
> >
> > My house is painting.
> >
> >
> >
> > The progressive was probably the last form of the passive
>construction to
> > develop in English. Here is an example of the older construction from
> > George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss (1860, Penguin Classics 1979),
>p. 549:
> >
> >
> >
> > "It is true, she was looking very charming herself, and Stephen was
>paying
> > her the utmost attention on this public occasion - jealously buying
>up the
> > articles he had seen under her fingers in the process of making, and
>gaily
> > helping her to cajole the male customers into the purchase of the most
> > effeminate futilities."
> >
> >
> >
> > The phrase "the articles he had seen under her fingers in the process
>of
> > making" is the construction in question, where "making" in PDE would
>be
> > "being made." Parsing the phrase as a late instance of the Early
>Modern
> > English -ing form as a progressive passive makes sense in its
>historical
> > context and Eliot's linguistic conservatism. What sparked my
>curiosity was
> > how my fellow grammarians might parse the construction, not treating
>it as a
> > slightly archaic form for 1860s English. The analysis must account
>for both
> > meaning and grammatical form.
> >
> >
> >
> > Herb
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Herbert F. W. Stahlke, Ph.D.
> >
> > Emeritus Professor of English
> >
> > Ball State University
> >
> > Muncie, IN 47306
> >
> > [log in to unmask]
> >
> >
> >
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> >
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>
>
>
> --
> John Chorazy
> English III Honors and Academic
> Pequannock Township High School
> 973.616.6000
>
>
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